2 DAYS IN NEW YORK

In the brisk, hilarious sequel to 2007's 2 Days in Paris (also written and directed by star, Julie Delpy) we meet up with neurotic photographer Marion a few years after her tumultuous trip to her native France with then boyfriend Jack, played by Adam Goldberg (who doesn't appear in the sequel).  She has a toddler that resulted from that previous relationship, but now she has a new beau, Mingus (Chris Rock), who has his own young daughter, and they're living their version of post-racial domestic bliss.  That is, until they are paid a visit from Marion's French relatives, complete with unwanted guest.  Reprising their roles from the first film Marion's dad (Albert Delpy), her sister Rose (Alexia Landeau) and unexpectedly, Marion's ex, and Rose's current, boyfriend Manu (Alex Nahon) come to wreak havoc on their tiny New York apartment for two days.  During this time Marion is also hosting an exhibition of her photographs at which she is auctioning off her soul as a conceptual art piece.  Talk about timing.

This sequel is more lighthearted than its predecessor which focused on the relationship between Marion and Jack and whether or not they had a future together.  Now, Marion seems happy with Mingus for the most part, but her family is threatening to give him second thoughts about making these people his in-laws.  Rose, her passive-aggressively competitive sister with a startling lack of boundaries, must be the worst child psychologist in France.  While Manu, her boyfriend, is a foreigner who learned everything he knows about America, and more specifically black people, from MTV in the 90's, and manages to always be saying or doing the wrong thing.  Marion's father, who speaks hardly any English, is only less of a problem because his difficulties communicating make his foibles slightly more palatable.  Though his penchant for keying cars is a bit problematic.

Over the two days of their visit Marion runs the gamut of emotions giving Delpy a wonderful showcase for her varied comedic chops.  She has one particularly funny scene on the phone with a customer service rep where she goes from polite to frustrated to catty on a dime.  The script, co-written by Landeau and Nahon, is well-paced and clever allowing each of the primary characters a chance to be fully formed.  Chris Rock, who has appeared in broader comedies like Grown Ups and Death at a Funeral plays it understated and is a great straight man to the wacky Parisian visitors.

The puppet shows that open and close the film could have been too precious in the wrong hands, but it is just another credit to Delpy's intelligent sense of humor and restraint that they come off as endearing and make nice bookends to the vibrant slice of life in between them.  From the rich and funny dialogue to the effortless performances it's 2 Days in New York well spent.

FRANK OCEAN : CHANNEL ORANGE

First of all, it would be futile and somewhat irresponsible to ignore Frank Ocean's "coming out" preceding the release of Channel ORANGE, his major label solo debut, since most people hadn't even heard of him before the announcement (Is he related to Billy Ocean?).  Well, correction; they may have heard him, but didn't know who he was.  This was pretty much the case with me.  I had heard his voice plaintively crooning on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church In The Wild" and "Made In America" but didn't know much about him as an artist.
Most people's knee-jerk reaction might've been to see Ocean's revelation about his sexuality as a ploy to drum up some attention for his album.  This, in and of itself, speaks to an important shift in our culture.  Controversy is often good for business, but 20, even 10 years ago this would have been a surefire way to derail a music career, not boost sales.  The fact that Ocean is a hip-hop artist actually still leaves his fate unclear.  Though pop artists like Adam Lambert are out and proud, there is no precedent for such a thing in hip-hop.  The quotes placed around the words coming out stem from the fact that he didn't really make a statement of "Yep, I'm gay," so much as he simply revealed that he has been in love with a man.  Time will tell whether this is a transient David Bowie phase, or if it's a legitimate confession of bisexuality.  Either way, for now he has everyone's attention, so the question is does he have something to say?

Luckily for Ocean, that's an area where he doesn't have anything to worry about.  Revelations aside, Channel ORANGE is a wonderful debut.  A friend of mine, remarked that the lyrical complexity will probably take listeners a while to catch on to, and he might be right, but I don't think that it will hinder any initial connection to the material.  He so effortlessly wraps his metaphors in plain prose that you're grooving to it before you're aware of the layers beneath them.  "Sweet Life" plays like a breezy summer jam in the vein of Carl Thomas's "Summer Rain" so you're forgiven if you don't quite catch the existential social commentary just below the surface.  As someone relatively new to the game, songs like "Super Rich Kids [featuring Earl Sweatshirt]" are no surprise.  As a 24-year-old recording artist in Los Angeles, I'm sure he's seen his share of spoiled TFK's whose "maids come around too much," but "parents ain't around enough," he's just one of the precious few actually addressing it.   And that, in a nutshell, is what sets Ocean apart from his contemporaries.  The only draw back to being so thoughtful is that it rarely feels like he's having fun.  But I'm not going to pick nits.

Though he could easily fit into an R&B or Pop format, at heart, Ocean is clearly hip-hop.  It's not hard to imagine an artist like Common rapping the lyrics to "Crack Rock" or "Pyramids."  Sometimes this causes him to lean toward a conversational style of singing that a lot of the current rapper/singers have adopted in recent years, but he fortunately doesn't stray into the whiny, emo register of some other artists (sorry, Drake).  It just makes it all the nicer when he opens up vocally on songs like "Sweet Life"and "Bad Religion," the latter of which could arguably be about unrequited love, or actual religion, or both.  In the closing song, "Forrest Gump" Ocean presents a simple love song to man.  It has a touch of camp to it, but nonetheless feels heartfelt and earnest.

While fun might not be the best adjective to describe Channel ORANGE, don't let that stop it from becoming the album of the summer.  While you're seeped in the seasonal languor, allow the layered subtext to sink in when you're chilling at the family cookout, coasting down the highway, or relaxing on the beach.

BUTTERFLY SWORDS

Butterfly Swords is a nearly twenty year-old film finally making it to DVD.  With the all-star cast of martial arts superstars it boasts you would expect there to be more dazzling fight sequences, but this was originally released in 1993, years before films like The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero revolutionized the way people do battle on screen.  In Butterfly Swords there are a few good hand to hand fight scenes that showcase the talented martial artists, but there are mostly just whiplash inducing cuts that don't allow the viewer to take in the impact of each move, let alone admire the execution.  In its own hokey way though, the film still manages to be charming, albeit pretty violent (a lot more blood and severed heads than the aforementioned films).  I imagine this is the type of crudely edited film that would inspire a much better Tarantino film.  This is okay since the film doesn't take itself too seriously and the lighthearted way it bounces along with poorly spaced subtitles adds its appeal.  Admittedly it's an acquired taste, I don't think that the average person who might have enjoyed The House of Flying Daggers for instance would find the charm in Butterfly Swords, but fans of Tarantino and old Bruce Lee movies might get a kick out of it.

The plot surrounds two assassins Sister Ko (Michelle Yeoh) and Sing (Tony Leung) from the Happy Forest, who are trying to protect their kingdom from a neighboring group of rebels from Elites Villa...or something.  That part is not really clear, but mainly serves as a backdrop to the real story which is the subplot love quadrangle that includes the two assassins, another assassin Yip (Donnie Yen) and Sing's girlfriend Butterfly (Joey Wang).  Though the three assassins are like siblings, they are not blood relatives. There is a funny flashback sequence explaining how they met and how Sister Ko came to "raise" the younger boys.  As adults however, Sister Ko seems to have formed feelings for Sing and disdain for Butterfly with whom she has to compete for his attention.  They have a bitchy tea party that is one of the films comedic highlights.  Meanwhile, Yip is the one who harbors feelings for Sister Ko, but he's too bashful to act on them.  Unfortunately, the film favors the undercover assassins plot over the love story in terms of resolution, so it doesn't really go anywhere.  It's also interesting to see how far the culture has come in twenty years.  The women fight valiantly as equals to the men, but an unmarried pregnant woman fears being drowned by he townspeople. Yes, the movie is set in the past, but it's something to look at as much as the evolution of the martial arts choreography.

MAGIC MIKE

Ever since word first leaked out that Steven Soderbergh was directing a film based on the pre-Hollywood stripping life of heartthrob Channing Tatum, the anticipation has been building for Magic Mike.  And now, after months of anticipation, the actual film sort of feels like the morning after a one night stand where you realize, the person you thought was so hot the night before, isn't all that hot and is even less interesting when you actually try to have a conversation with them.

In the beginning we meet Mike (Tatum), construction worker and auto detailer by day and exotic dancer by night, waking up from a threesome with two sexy ladies, one of which's name he can't remember.  The other is Joanna (Olivia Munn), a sexy, bi-sexual, psych student we later find out is studying nightlife workers like Mike for school.  Had these two really connected something interesting could have been explored with their relationship and the chemistry with the two actors could have been explored more, but alas the script feels like it's doing all it can to avoid being intriguing or fresh in the least.  Instead a nineteen year-old slacker named Adam (Alex Pettyfer) shows up at Mike's construction site with no experience and a busted hooptie and Mike, being the stripper with the heart of gold that he is, gives him a ride home where he meets Alex's older sister Brooke (Cody Horn), who is only slightly more lifelike an actress than Kristen Stewart.  Of course, Brooke has a boring boyfriend who she and Adam have dinner with that night and when Adam can't take it anymore he heads out of the restaurant where he runs into Mike at a nearby club.  Mike encourages him to talk to a girl celebrating her 21st birthday and before he knows it he's giving her a lap dance at Xquisite, the nightclub where Mike dances.

Soon after, Dallas (Matthew McConaughey), the owner, decides to take him on as a dancer and make him a part of the gang.  The other guys include Ken (Matt Bomer) nicknamed for his made-by-Mattel good looks, Tito (Adam Rodriguez), the latin lothario, Tarzan (Kevin Nash), the wild man and Big Dick Richie (Joe Mangianello), named for obvious reasons.  It would have been nice to find out if the guys were as colorful as their nicknames, but they don't do much other than a few awkwardly choreographed group dances and brief solos throughout the film that are too cheesy to be sexy.  The cheesiness wouldn't have been so bad if the film was a straight forward comedy like The Full Monty, but about half way through it tries to become Boogie Nights-lite and completely loses its way.

Adam gets into drugs, Mike gets rejected for a business loan and everyone else seems to be waiting around for something to do.  There were several scenes that felt like they were improvised, but not in an inventive Knocked Up kind of way, but more of an experimental way that would have worked better with comedians or skilled improvisors.  The romance with Mike and Brooke falls totally flat since the charm is only coming from his end.  Adam's downfall is pretty much ignored by the end of the film.  There are no consequences for his actions and taking care of him just serves as a device to bring Mike and Brooke together.  Worst of all, the sexy stripping that everyone has been waiting for is pretty anti-climactic.  Tatum is clearly the best (read: only) dancer in the bunch, but he mostly pop-locks as if his character from the Step Up movies has turned to stripping.  It's cool to watch, but not necessarily sexy.  The only one of the men with any real sex appeal ends up being Matthew McConaughey who, as the elder statesman, is the host of the show and only really gets one actual strip tease towards the end, but he earns it, and as far as those scenes go it's a highlight.

Overall, the "magic" in Magic Mike is utterly lacking, but if you just want to see some pretty actors in thongs, rent it and get someone to wake you up during the "good" parts because they are few and far between.

FIONA APPLE: THE IDLER WHEEL....

Remember back in 2005 when Extraordinary Machine came out reminding us of why we initially fell in love with Fiona Apple and confirming that she was well worth the wait?  Well now here we are in 2012, and after another lengthy hiatus the indie/pop goddess has graced us with a fourth album and once again our patience has been duly rewarded.  Where Extraordinary Machine found her at the sunniest we've ever seen her with songs like the title track and "Better Version of Me," on this latest offering she's more of the angsty, sullen girl we met on Tidal back in 1996.  In "Valentine" she sings about cutting herself (hopefully only figuratively) and wonders how she can ask someone to love her when all she does is beg to be left alone ("Left Alone").

The major difference is that this album could have just as easily been titled Tribal (It would have been less of a mouthful than the 23 word moniker it ended up with).  From the guttural wails on the opener "Every Single Night," to the rumbling drums and overlapping vocals on the closer "Hot Knife" every track feels raw and primal.  "Periphery" contains what sounds like marching feet on gravel, and on "Werewolf" she seems to be yelling at her lover over a pack of screaming children.  Thematically this is nothing new for her.  Her famously poetic lyrics lay her emotions so bare that she might as well be singing stark naked.  On past albums though, this emotional nakedness was often accompanied by lush strings, plaintive horns and Apple's own sturdy piano, making her the alterna-jazz chanteuse that provided the soundtrack to all of your break-ups.  This time however, the instrumentation is so stripped down and simple it borders on experimental but, in the end, the arrangements work by punctuating the visceral lyrics.  As she sings in "Every Single Night" she just 'wants to feel everything' and apparently she wants us to do the same.

ROCK OF AGES

The year is 1987 and the smell of Aqua Net is in the air, which is fitting since hair bands rule the airwaves.  Also, since this is a campy musical people break into song on the bus.  This is where we meet our protagonist Sherrie (Julianne Hough) on her way to Hollywood, rock albums in tow, leaving behind her grandmother in Oklahoma.  Young, blonde and beautiful she sets out to become a rockstar, but if you've ever seen ANY movie before you know where this is going and there will be few surprises in Rock of Ages for you.  That's okay, because it's not supposed to be anything more than a fun, singing and dancing ride down memory lane and on that level it totally delivers.  If, like me, some of the songs are before your time, you will still have fun.  If Journey, Poison and Bon Jovi were your high school soundtrack, then you'll enjoy it even more.  The Gleeks, however, will absolutely love it!  There's puppy love, mash-ups and the requisite Journey songs to boot.  If most of the scenes weren't at a concert venue, I would've been looking for a band to appear out of thin air when the singing started.

Hough (Dancing with the Stars) who is known more for her dancing than her singing will probably continue to be after this movie.  She has chops, but she's not the showstopper she would need to be to make this her star-making role.  However, the camera loves her and she has the angelic face of the country girl in the big city that make her a perfect fit.  As Drew, the boy she falls in love with, Diego Boneta is even blander, but not too much to bring the movie down with him, and his boy band excursion is one of the film's highlights.

In the end though, it's the veteran stars that keep this ball bouncing even when no one's singing.  Catherine Zeta-Jones is a hoot as a political wife rallying against the sex, drugs and rock and roll on the Sunset strip.  The camp factor is probably at its height when she's joined by a group of ladies to cover Pat Benetar in a church.  Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand are both hysterical as guys that run The Bourbon, a hip spot on the strip, where most of the action takes place.  Baldwin is a joy to watch in anything these days and Brand is essentially playing an 80's version of himself (which isn't all that different as it happens), but that's not really a complaint.

The real draw, especially in terms of curiosity is, of course, Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx.  He doesn't disappoint either.  He manages to ooze sex yet still be hilarious and does surprisingly well with the vocals.  He may not be able to wail like Bon Jovi, but he does a more than satisfying job.   He's so good he never gets upstaged by his monkey sidekick and his scenes with Malin Ackermann as a Rolling Stone reporter profiling him are some of the sexiest in the film.  Ackermann, in her tight miniskirt and sky-high Reagan-era perm, is exactly the kind of "reporter" you would expect to see in a White Snake video, complete with "brainy" glasses that are begging to be ripped off at just the right moment when she's writhing on top of a Mustang.  Mary J. Blige is in full diva mode as the matron of a strip club where Sherrie ends up working at one point.  Her primary reason for being in the movie is to look fabulous, (her wigs seem to change every time the camera cuts to her) and do some soulful wailing on the big group numbers.  Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way.

FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF by Marques Wayne

The seven actresses that bring to life the stories of the “Colored Girls” are the where the real magic lies in this powerful and touching piece by Ntozake Shange.  They aren’t able to rely on sophisticated set design, costumes and wigs because there are none. The stage is small and sparsely decorated with five, lightly painted, pillars and a small fence behind which a multi-instrumentalist (Derf Reklaw) provides musical accompaniment.  For much of the show, each actress is dressed simply in black with a bright scarf at her waist in the color that she represents; red, purple, yellow, orange, blue, green and brown. 

Between them they portray an array of characters, some funny, others intense, that represent the broad spectrum of experiences women of color face in America.  The play was written in the 1970’s but the images and themes are timeless.  In the 2010 film version, For Colored Girls, adapted and directed by Tyler Perry, each character had a singular storyline throughout and they were connected by either their work or the apartment building that many of them lived in.  Here, however, each story has its own set of emotional and social complications and the glue that binds them together is each woman’s search for her own peace, love and humanity. 

The performers selected for each of the colors represented were chosen well.  Standouts were Mystie Galloway, Nia Witts and Yvette Saunders.  Galloway, the lady in yellow, brought a lively, focused charm to her monologues, most clearly evidenced in the first, where she brings to life a coquettish young virgin ready to take the plunge into womanhood.  Witts, the lady in brown, exercised her range throughout the production and really shined in a monologue about a preteen in love with the ghost of a long-dead Haitian revolutionary.  Yvette Saunders, the lady in blue, was also wonderful in multiple roles and glided with a grace and ease that made the stage seem to dance with her.  These actresses brought nuance and depth to their multiple roles, but also were supported solidly by the other four performers, and every one of them shined in their final monologues where the intensity was heightened to a fever pitch. 

The director (J.C. Gafford) and choreographer (Fernando Christopher) are to be commended for staging such a powerful piece on the limited budget of a small playhouse, and my one note would be that as much as dance is referenced in the verse, I expected to see even more and I think that more music could have been used in some of the transitions to make them smoother and accentuate the mood.  All in all, with seven bright stars at the center, it’s hard not to be moved by the message of the playwright’s honest and universal piece.  This production proves that in the right hands, the material can speak for itself.

 The show will be playing until March 17, 2012.  Tickets are available on their website ($20) : http://lyrictheatrela.com/